Disasters (Civ6)
Disasters are a brand new feature in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. These are natural events in the game with (mostly) devastating consequences, which bring a whole new level of realism to the series and are the outward representation of the new Climate system. Mechanics Disasters happen throughout the game completely automatically, depending on a randomized event generator. A flood may hit the tiles next to a river in one turn, then 10 turns later a nasty blizzard may come from the nordern tundra and freeze some land... Players have no control over these events (up to the point when they start affecting the climate, see below); they can only learn how to adapt to them, minimize the damage they suffer and eventually use them to their advantage. The different kinds of disasters work a bit differently, but they all have some common features: * They are localized, affecting a group of several tiles only. * Most are centered onto, or connected to a specific land feature, such as a River or a Volcano, or to a particular terrain type, such as Tundra or Grassland. * They 'destroy' (that is, damage) everything on the tiles they hit. Usually that means pillaging improvements, and damaging district buildings or the districts themselves. Military units caught on these tiles can also be damaged, while Civilian units are completely wiped out! * At the same time they offer some opportunity, such as 'fertilizing' land in the affected areas. Disasters' rate of occurrence may be controlled in a setting in the beginning of each game. There are (reportedly) 5 settings. However, this only sets a general framework, within which players' attitude towards Climate change will affect the rate and severity of disasters (mostly by further increasing it). Note that the difficulty level of a game does not affect the disaster rate! Some Disasters are instantaneous (that is they happen in a single turn), while others (namely Storms) may stick around for several turns. In the second case they will also move around, each turn affecting new areas along their path. Climate and the climate change Gathering Storm introduces the concept of climate as a gameplay factor. Climate is the main condition controlling the rate of most disasters in the game, just like in real life. And players can now affect climate (that is, worsen it) in the later stages of the game! The main factor contributing to climate change is CO2 levels, which are produced by industry, and more specifically - by power generation. As CO2 levels increase, the climate starts to change for the worse, and there is a general increase in disaster occurrences' chance. But the worst effect of climate change is other - submerged coasts. As the general temperature increases due to elevated CO2 levels, the Polar ice starts to melt (ice tiles will disappear and be replaced by ocean tiles), land tiles nearby the coasts will get flooded first, and finally will be permanently submerged! Of course, this will limit severely the use of coasts, and will cripple or even destroy cities already settled there! Late-game engineering projects may protect cities from the worst effects of climate change. The World Climate screen All the info about the new climate system may be visualized on the brand new Climate screen, which may be opened from a special button found in the upper left corner of the game screen. Here on the left-hand side you may see the current level of CO2, how much has the world temperature risen, and what is the current climate game setting. On the right-hand side you may see the relevant chances for each type of disaster (which stem from the climate change described to the left). At the bottom of the screen you will see the world sea condition: how much polar ice has been lost, and how much has the sea level risen as a consequence (down to the raw number of tiles which are currently flooded or submerged already). Finally, in the center you will see info about the latest disaster to have struck the known lands. Tabs at the top of the screen provide further info about the historic trend of CO2 rise, and about the disasters which have already struck. Types of disasters * Floods * Droughts * Storms, separated into 4 different categories: ** Tornadoes ** Blizzards **Sand storms ** Hurricanes * Volcanic eruptions